Ladies of the Senate Records

The records of the Ladies of the Senate include minutes of meetings, membership rosters, a constitution, by-laws, and correspondence relating to the activities of a social and charitable organization that was established by the wives of United States Senators in 1917.

Size: Less than 1 linear foot (about 400 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: No donation of copyright was received with this collection. Records created by employees of the U.S. Government as part of their official duties are in the public domain. The copyright interest in other documents in the collection presumably belongs to the creators of those documents or their heirs.
Processed by: Randy Sowell (2024).

The Ladies of the Senate was an organization established by the wives of United States Senators in 1917. Initially, its primary purpose was to assist in the war effort after the United States entered the First World War in April of that year. Working with the American Red Cross, the members made towels, blankets, and other items for the armed forces, and raised funds among themselves to finance their work. After the war, the Ladies of the Senate engaged in various social and charitable activities, and sought to “cultivate friendly relations among its members” through weekly luncheons. The organization also made special bequests to assist worthy causes. For example, the Ladies of the Senate donated funds to the Salvation Army to assist relief efforts during the Great Depression.

Under its constitution and by-laws, the president of the organization was the wife of the Vice President of the United States, and the other officers were elected by the membership, which consisted of the wives of U.S. Senators. Among the organization’s members were three future First Ladies: Florence Harding, Grace Coolidge, and Bess Truman. Another member, Hattie Caraway of Arkansas, later became the first woman ever elected to the United States Senate. She was appointed to the Senate to replace her late husband in 1931 and won election to full terms in 1932 and 1938. The Truman Library’s collection of the records of the Ladies of the Senate contain no information about the organization’s activities after 1936.

The records of the Ladies of the Senate include minutes of meetings, membership rosters, a constitution, by-laws, and correspondence relating to the activities of a social and charitable organization that was established by the wives of United States Senators in 1917. The records were maintained by the organization’s recording secretary.

The minutes of meetings cover such subjects as the founding and naming of the organization, the work it performed in behalf of the war effort during the First World War, the payment of dues, the election of officers, proposed changes in the group’s constitution and by-laws, and social events organized by the members. The rest of the collection is made up of lists of members, officers, and attendees at meetings; copies of the organization’s constitution and by-laws; and a few letters.

The records were kept in the Truman home in Independence for many years before they were transferred to the Library. They were originally opened for research as part of the General Historical Documents Collection (GHDC No. 311).